h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Thanks for the compliment to the Canadian Brodcasting Corporation/Radio Canada, ApparÏtÏon. I consider it to be a wonderful resource worthy of great respect but sadly underappreciated at home.

Just for everybody's information:

http://www.cbc.ca/stories/2003/06/18/us_pilots030618

We are sad in Canada again.

A950203

My condolences Anhaga.

thank you.

- network was down today

That's terrible, anhaga!

Ow, that's awful! As if there wasn't enough resentment of the U.S. military!

The ICC never was implemented, correct? So there's really no way that the Canadians can see justice done. Diplomatic immunity is all well and good, but when you have a clear-cut case of people disobeying orders and killing people as a result, there needs to be some way to take action. (Other than taking the law into your own hands, which I don't advocate.)

It reminds me of the U.S Air Force Pilots in Italy, who were playing acrobatics and cut through the cables of a ski lift or funicular railway in about 2000. Dozens of people were killed, and the US Pilots were repatriated and *not tried* to the great distress of the Italians...

Oh, yeah... They should have been tried in the U.S. at least, because they were going against orders by flying that low. I think they did receive some sort of reprimand, but it wasn't enough by any means!

The International Criminal Court is real. http://www.icc-cpi.int/php/show.php?id=home&l=EN

It's president, Phillipe Kirsche, is Canadian.

Again, the ICC is in existence and is attempting to do its work despite vitriolic opposition from the Bush administration. It is not fair to say American opposition: the Clinton administration signed the Rome treaty and it seems clear that a Gore administration would have ratified it (if the Senate and House had gone along).

The Bush Administration has bullied the Court and the UN (by threatening to end peacekeeping operations in the former Yugoslavian states) into granting American peacekeeping troops immunity from prossecution for one year. A demand to extend that immunity, or make it permanent, is expected.

In any case, the families of the Canadian soldiers killed in Kandahar have not given up on the American legal system: http://www.cbc.ca/stories/2003/06/19/pilots_reax030619

The contempt is amazing, and sad

Sth Korea
Afghanistan
East Europe

I wonder how long the list goes.

Do we remember the USS Vincennes? AEGIS class cruiser suspects it is under attack by an Iranian airliner with 290 civilians on board and, of course, shoots down the civilians. The captain was not only not held accountable, he was given a medal.

http://www.geocities.com/CapitolHill/5260/vince.html

I wonder if the statute of limitations has run out on the captain of the Vincennes? I'm glad to hear that the ICC is going strong - perhaps if the Democratic party is in power next year, we might see some justice done! (I just hope there's a Democratic candidate worth voting for, but at this rate, anybody would be better. Gumby would be better.)

If you've never looked at http://www.bushwatch.com, take a peep. It's worth the time.

The comma slipped into our link. I'll try this:

http://www.bushwatch.com

If any more proof of the incompetence of the US military is required, look to the 'friendly fire' incidents lately in Iraq. Dozens of US, British and Kurdish soldiers lost their lives from American bombs. The first gulf war was the same.

In one infamous incident in Iraq recently the British victims described the US pilot (who passed over the British tanks close enough to see then clearly) as a "Cowboy".

US airforce pilots have been known to use amphetamines while on duty. That's one theory about the cause.

Cowboys on speed... that's just wonderful! Poor b*st*rds! Apparently, it really messes with their minds. I do have some sympathy for them, but none for their Commanders, who interfere with their judgement. Also - the transponder system that was supposed to prevent friendly fire incidents wasn't in use because the USAF decided it was 'too expensive'!

The pilots in the Canadian case were on uppers. It's not that they occasionally use them, they are fairly standard issue. The flight surgeon examines the pilots before each mission. If he considers them unfit to fly without the pills, he orders them to take the pills. If they don't take the pills, they don't fly. If they don't fly, they risk being passed over for promotion.

Well, that's just great isn't it! As Empty Sky suspected ... though using speed doesn't make them any less culpable for disobeying an order... or failing to exercise judgement!

In 1993, a 16 year old Somali man, Akubar Shinade Arone (a name forever burned in my memory) was captured inside the Canadian peace-keeping base in Belet-weyne Somalia. That night a number of the soldiers of the Canadian Airborne Regiment tortured and beat the sixteen year old to death. Canada conducted lengthy criminal trials against the soldiers suspected to be responsible. One suspect attempted suicide and was so nearly sucessful that he was declared unfit to stand trial. Despite the difficulty of a prosecution in which the only witnesses are comrades of the accused, convictions were obtained.

In 1995 purile and disgusting videotapes of Canadian Airborne Regiment hazing activities surfaced. These proved to be the last straw for a Regiment with an illustrious history. Canada shocked the military community of the world by taking harsh action unheard of anywhere before or since. Showing that Canada thinks of its soldiers not as tools to do its dirty work, but as representatives to the world of Canadian society, the Canadian Airborne Regiment was disbanded by Ministerial Order (against the recommendations of Military leaders), it's soldiers reassigned to other units.

I'm still not laughing it off. I'm still crying. How many other military units should be disbanded by political leaders as a strong demonstration of the values of a nation?